Statement by Activists and Artists Inside the Country in Response to Narges Mohammadi's Situation

A group of human rights activists, civil activists, and filmmakers inside Iran have requested Narges Mohammadi to end her hunger strike, urging the authorities of the Islamic Republic to pay attention to the situation of the imprisoned Vice President of the Human Rights Defenders Center and her 'legal' demand for contact with her children. The statement, published on Thursday, July 15, also calls on the Islamic Republic officials to 'quickly end any violations' of the constitution regarding political crimes and 'not to add more to the numerous examples of human rights violations in Iran.' This statement has been signed by Asghar Farhadi, Jafar Panahi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Babak Ahmadi, Giti Pourfazel, Fariborz Rais Dana, Mohammad Maleki, Mohammad Nourizad, Ahmadreza Ahmadpour, Alireza Jabari, Mansour Faraji, Farideh Moradkhani, Abdollah Moradi, and Ismail Mofti Zadeh. The authors of this statement emphasized regarding Narges Mohammadi's situation: 'We consider such punishments, which are essentially political punishments, but the authorities refuse to acknowledge under this title, to be contrary to the explicit text of the constitution that permits freedom of expression, thought, and also the freedom to protest and demonstrate without carrying weapons.' The statement requests the officials and statesmen of the Islamic Republic to 'quickly end any violations' of the constitutional sections regarding political crimes that they have always executed based on their own interpretations and 'not to add more to the numerous examples of human rights violations in Iran.' They also urged the authorities to pay attention to Narges Mohammadi’s situation, which is 'in such difficult conditions,' to safeguard her life and to fulfill her legal demand for contact with her children. These civil, political activists, and filmmakers, while 'appreciating the resilience and courage' of Narges Mohammadi, have asked her to end her hunger strike. The authors of this statement have requested her to 'return to normal life despite the imposed conditions and not to deprive her children of maternal affection and her companions in the realm of human rights activities of such steadfast and resilient support.' Narges Mohammadi, the imprisoned Vice President of the Human Rights Defenders Center, has been on a hunger strike since July 7 in protest against the Iranian judicial and security officials' prevention of her phone contact with her young children. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, a Shia cleric in Qom, Ahmad Montazeri, son of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Zarindokht Ataei, wife of Ezzatollah Sahabi, and the daughters of Zahra Rahnavard and Mir Hossein Mousavi are among those who have recently expressed concern for Narges Mohammadi's situation and requested her to end her hunger strike. On Tuesday, on the fifteenth day of Narges Mohammadi's hunger strike, thousands of Twitter users inside and outside the country launched a 'storm' on Twitter calling for her freedom and addressing her demands. This Twitter storm quickly became one of the top ten global trends with the hashtag FreeNarges#. Prior to her hunger strike, Narges Mohammadi stated in a letter that in the past year, she had only been able to hear her children's voices once, and during this entire time, Iranian judicial officials had prevented her from communicating with her two children. Following her arrest, her two young children went to their father, Taghi Rahmani, in France. Mr. Rahmani, who himself was a political prisoner in the Islamic Republic for years, left the country following the events of 2009 and the heavy prison sentences issued for political activists critical of the Iranian government in 2011.